


Take it From Your Heart, Put it in Your Hand

by thewayulook2night



Series: everything will glow for you [1]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: M/M, patrick has a kid, who david loves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 09:50:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19293292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewayulook2night/pseuds/thewayulook2night
Summary: Her lopsided ponytail gives some indication to Patrick’s home life, as well as the absence of a wedding ring on Patrick’s finger. David tries not to get his hopes up. He tells himself Mabel’s curls are probably just too heavy for her hair elastic and maybe her parents aren’t married yet. The craziness and expense of having a kid in their mid twenties stopping them tying the knot.ORDavid can imagine himself falling for Patrick pretty quickly, however he never imagines he'd love Patrick's kid as much as he does.





	Take it From Your Heart, Put it in Your Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fic for Schitt's Creek, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
> A disclaimer- I know very little about five year olds (you could say I’m like David in that sense) so please forgive any inaccuracies!

Patrick moves to Schitt’s Creek on a whim. 

A very risky, potentially put Mabel at harm, whim. But to be honest he’s just sick of running from Rachel in the supermarket and trying to pretend like his baby girl’s mother (who she doesn’t know, and Rachel pretends not to know) isn’t right in front of her. 

Mabel is five now and talks to Patrick about anything and everything, which he is so glad for. It makes him feel like Mabel never really needed a mother, like he wasn’t doing everything wrong by leaving Rachel to raise Mabel alone in his childhood bedroom at his parent’s house. Mabel doesn’t seem to mind, never asks about her mother and Patrick dreads the day she ever does, because how do you tell a five year old their mother left you with a knot in your chest and a rock in your stomach?  
How do you tell a five year old their mother left you both to focus on her career? 

You don’t, and Patrick hopes he never has to. Hopes Mabel never needs her mother as much as parenting books suggest she does. 

**

It’s a cloudy and windy night when Patrick pulls up to the motel, it’s nearly 11pm and Mabel has been asleep for the majority of the drive, only brightening up when Patrick got her the Happy Meal she’d been promised. Without Mabel’s continuous stream of consciousness to comfort him, Patrick is almost manic. 

His boot is packed to the brim, full of his and Mabel’s belongings, looking at Mabel’s bike supporting his guitar in the back seat he feels like he should just turn right around and go straight back to his parent’s house.

This isn’t right, Patrick! he thinks, and then, this is the only thing that’s felt right since Mabel fell asleep on your chest the first night you met her. Maybe he’ll decide what’s right and wrong in the morning when Mabel’s awake to be his voice of reason. 

When Patrick had told her firmly to pack her stuff earlier she seemed excited, ‘ooo daddy, are we going on holiday? Where are we going? I hope it’s England, did you know the Queen has dogs! Imagine being the Queen’s dogs?!’ She immediately started packing her toothbrush amongst her colouring books, oblivious to Patrick’s distress as she chatted excitedly about the Queen’s corgis and what she thinks they might be called. 

Gathering up Mabel in his arms, he sees a man’s silhouette through the thin motel curtains, his hands on his hips while another person, a women he thinks, waves her hands at him. They seem to be arguing and Patrick hopes to god he doesn’t get a room next to theirs, the last thing he needs to deal with tomorrow is a grumpy, lacking-in-sleep Mabel. No, he has to get a job, and find somewhere to live that isn’t a tacky roadside motel and try and give Mabel the life and love she deserves while allowing himself that too. He hopes they don’t clash in ambitions. God knows Patrick would give anything to see Mabel happy, including reconciliation with her mother, despite the toll that would take on himself. 

**

Patrick gets woken up by Mable tugging on his arm. 

“Daddy! Daddy, where are we?’, his heavy eyelids almost win the battle but then he hears the fear in Mabel’s voice. He would never sleep again for Mabel and she probably knows that. He blinks at the clock, it blinks 3:42AM back at him, before answering Mabel. 

“Hey, hey, hey May. Shhhh’ he demands as she keeps asking him questions,

‘What do you need to know? Do you want to wait till the morning to talk or can you stay up?’, Mabel rubs her eyes and sits up in the bed next to him. Her tiny frame is swamped by the size of the bed and the ominous shadows lurking in the room beyond her. Patrick thinks for the thousandth time that this wasn’t right. That he should just go back to his parents house, he can cope with the unhappiness, right? Right?

“I think I can stay up, I slept in the car remember? Silly.” 

Patrick smiles at the nickname, reserved for his dumbest questions, he slides a hand down her hair, smoothing down her wild curls. The curls she gets from him, the auburn from her mother. 

‘Okay. Do you want a hot chocolate?”

**

**

David can see himself falling for Patrick the third time he meets him, his smile teasing but his eyes genuine. What he doesn’t expect is to love his daughter as much.

The first time David meets Mabel, she pops up from behind Patrick’s desk, ‘Daddy what’s this word?’ and while Patrick helps her spell it out and finds her a dictionary to find it and discuss its meaning, David spots the difference between Patrick and his mini me. 

Apart from her light ginger curls bouncing across her shoulders, he can’t spot many differences, they even have the same mannerisms.

Once they’re done with ‘witch’, Patrick colours and apologises,

“Sorry, this is my daughter, Mabel.” His voice warms on Mabel’s name. “Say hi May!”

Mabel just turns the same shade of pink as Patrick did and ducks her head behind his arm. David gets it, he wishes he was still young enough to ignore people and it be seen as cute rather than uncivilised and surly. 

“Sorry, she’s shy.” Patrick smiles and Mabel drops back out of David’s view. 

“So, anyway, a brief description of the business?” and David can’t stop staring at the blue of Patrick’s shirt as he stutters out that its a general store but also a very specific store. He doesn’t blame himself for needing to get high after that.

**

 

The second time David meets Mabel he’s wearing his favourite sweater with the lightening bolt on and she asks him ‘Are you dressed as Zeus?’, David doesn’t know what to say. 

On one had, no he’s not dressed as Zeus, on the other hand he likes the idea of being the most powerful god. He just looks at Patrick for help with his mouth open, like that will help him formulate a response. 

Patrick smirks, which does something to David’s insides he doesn’t want to think about, and grabs Mabel’s hand, she starts looking like she wants to explore the store and David doesn’t know how to say his business is not for kids. 

“Sorry, we’ve been reading Percy Jackson before bed, haven’t we Mabel?” As she nods her curls, tied in a lopsided pony tail, hit against her back and she goes back to exploring the store with her eyes, her hand still in Patrick’s.

Her lopsided ponytail gives some indication to Patrick’s home life, as well as the absence of a wedding ring on Patrick’s finger. 

David tries not to get his hopes up. He tells himself Mabel’s curls are probably just too heavy for her hair elastic and maybe her parents aren’t married yet. The craziness and expense of having a kid in their mid twenties stopping them tying the knot. 

Or maybe, just maybe, Patrick is that bad at doing Mabel’s hair, and her mother isn’t actually in the picture.

David groans internally, squeezing his eyes shut before he looks back to Patrick with a framed business licence in his hands. Fuck.

**

The third time David sees Mabel, is on his first date with Patrick. He apologised profusely when David first arrived. 

“Sorry I know you probably don’t want a five year old here right now, but I just kind of assumed Ray would be okay to look after her tonight. Turns out he himself has a date tonight” Patrick blushes and that’s David’s first indication.

“I promise she’ll be quiet, I think she’ll fall asleep soon…” Patrick trials off looks over to Mabel, content with her nose in a book, body moving with the way she’s swinging her legs under the table. 

David can’t say anything other than “it’s okay, don’t worry about it” because of the way Patrick watches Mabel, a proud gleam in his eyes every time her brow crunches in concentration. 

 

Surely Patrick having a kid isn’t that big of a deal? It doesn’t have to effect David’s chances with him, he’s never liked kids but he’d never met Mabel until last month. She seems pretty manageable; any other five year old David has knows for a month has had about three meltdowns by now, so Mabel is winning already.

His thought process is interrupted by Stevie entering while Mabel tugs on Patrick’s jacket sleeve. 

“Daddy” she whispers, “I need the toilet, please.” 

Patrick seems relieved, his face had crumpled slightly, a stark change to the fondness David had been subjected to for twenty minutes already tonight. 

That’s David’s second indication.

**

David pretends to study the menu while Stevie sits down and Patrick walks away. 

Stevie’s sarcastic “Happy birthday” jerks him out his thoughts and her “I think I might be crashing a date” is his third indication. 

Three strikes and you’re out, David. “No, no, no, he brought his daughter!” Despite his protests, David hope it is a date. 

Stevie looks to her left, smirks and says “he got you a present David, and I guarantee he only brought his daughter because he has no one else to look after her”.

David stays silent, knowing Stevie knows she’s right. 

“If there’s anything, remotely, sentimental in here, he is on a date with you, right now.”

David prays he’s right about the three strikes. Prays he’s out. 

**

He knows he’s out later that night, after he opened Patrick’s present, after Steve left and Mabel fell asleep, face pressed against Patrick’s upper arm which restricts his movements, but Patrick doesn’t seem to care. 

It seems like he would do anything to make Mabel comfortable and happy, David wonders if that’s how all parents are supposed to feel and it’s just his parents with problems.

Or he wonders if it’s just Patrick. 

He prefers the former.

He knows he’s out when Patrick’s looking at him like that, and then David’s leaning in to kiss him. 

After he’s said goodnight to Patrick, he goes into his motel room, pulls back the curtain slightly and watches Patrick drive away. 

Or he expects him to, but that’s not what he sees, he sees Patrick unbuckle his belt and turning around in his seat to talk to Mabel. David hopes she wasn’t awake when they kissed, she seems a good kid but the thought makes him uncomfortable. Maybe it was the car door shutting when he left that woke her, jolted her from her slumber with her head lolling, chin against her chest. 

He kind of wishes he was there, with them. He wants to know what they’re doing, what they’re talking about. David thinks maybe he’s starting to hope he’s out for a while. Tries to remind himself to slow 

His thoughts are interrupted by Alexis’ “ew David! What are you looking at?” He startles and drops the curtain, plunging the room back into darkness. 

He doesn’t turn the light on, knows he’s blushing and tells Alexis it’s none of her business what he looks at and storms into the bathroom to get changed. His huff doesn’t last for long, not even Alexis’ annoying sibling behaviour can ruin this for him.

**

The thing is, Patrick thinks two days after David’s birthday, the thing, is that David hates kids. He’s seen the way David frowns at them when they come into the store, seen the way his eyes home in on their sticky hands and snotty noses. 

The thing is that Mabel could be a deal breaker, Patrick really hopes it isn’t, but it could be. That’s the thing.

“Daddddyyy, are you listening? Hello??”, Mabel’s voice and her hands rubbing his head grab his attention back from what could be and what might not. 

“Sorry, May” he apologises as he ties the lace on her yellow sneakers. 

“I saaaaid, when can you teach me to tie my laces? Because Sadie said her Dad taught her and it only took them five minutes!” 

Patrick laughs, “Is that true, huh?” 

He picks up her backpack and tells her, “Hands up if you love the Raptors!” to be able to put the bag on her arms and up her back, rubs her head when he’s done. 

“Well, maybe if there’s a spare five minutes in the store today we can do it then? You ready? Do you have your colouring pencils, you forgot them the last two times?” Patrick checks her bag anyway, for a distraction from the store and whats waiting for him at the store, or who. Mable’s pencils are nestled next to her monkey, William, and Patrick ushers her out the door, glancing at them both in the mirror by Ray’s door, he fixes his collar just one more time.

**

 

The thing rears its ugly head at around two-thirty and forces Patrick to slam his hands on the counter, “David! She’s five, she can understand what you’re saying, especially when what you’re saying is that you don’t like children!”

Patrick’s teeth are gritted and he nearly spits on that last word, he swallows hard and tries to calm down. The bell rings as a customer comes in and Patrick leaves David to deal with them, goes to comfort Mabel. 

“Hey, he didn’t mean it, he’s just never been around children, doesn’t really know how to be around them, okay?” Patrick isn’t sure why he’s so determined to make this work, maybe because the fate of the store and his life in Schitt’s Creek hinges on his relationship with David, or maybe because he just really wants this.

And he can’t remember the last time he’s wanted a relationship so desperately. 

 

Patrick hears the bell for the door ring again and pops his head out the curtain to see if the store is getting busy, instead sees David’s retreating back at the other side of the glass. Fuck. That’s done it. 

He loves Mabel, with all his heart but he just feels like he has more to give, more to love and he thinks he could be that for David but Mabel’s not something they can’t compromise on. 

Mabel sniffs one more time, pulls on her ponytail to tighten it, forcing it to the right side of her head and wiggles her way onto Patrick’s lap, asks if they can learn to tie laces now. Patrick thinks he’s more upset than Mabel about the way David had said “children are gross. No thank you!” And Mabel scrunched up her face and said 

“I am children, I’m not gross, I brush my teeth twice a day like the dentist says!” and stormed into the back.

Patrick sighs, rubs his face and sits facing Mabel on the floor. He’s untying the laces of her right shoe and placing it in between them when the bell rings again, “One second May, I think there’s a customer”. 

As he’s getting to his feet he hears David’s raised voice ask for Mabel, who’s head lifts up from her shoes, who then looks for Patrick’s approving nod and bounds to the front of the store with one shoe on, her steps uneven as she runs.

Turns out, what she’s running towards is David’s offer of a hot chocolate and a small bunch of wildflowers and Patrick has to stop himself from running to David. He settles on a sensible, mature, definitely not enamoured with David’s gesture for Mable, walk towards him instead. 

David doesn’t see him until Patrick’s grabbing his shoulder, rubbing it and then lunging forward to take the hot chocolate out of Mabel’s hands as it nearly falls in her attempt to sniff the flowers. 

“Hey May, why don’t we sit down and drink you’re hot chocolate because I don’t think David will be as generous when your drink is all over the floor of his store”. 

Patrick leads her over to the chair by the counter, takes her flowers and helps her onto the seat, her legs dangling still with only one shoe on. When he turns around to find a glass for the flowers, David’s still staring at him, looking nervous and satisfied all at once. 

“Ours”, David rasps out. 

Patrick cocks his head at him “huh?”

“It’s our store, not just mine. I know it was my idea but I couldn’t have done all this on my own, this confident facade it just that. A facade, I couldn’t have done it without you Patrick.” David starts to walk closer as he finishes his sentence, and it’s the most sincere he’s ever seen David. He could get used to it.

Patrick wraps his arms around his waist and kisses him, flowers pressing against David’s back.

“Mmm-“ Patrick pulls away, “ I guess I can deal with that.” He rubs between David’s shoulder blades with the hand not holding Mabel’s flowers. 

“And thank you, for doing that for Mabel. “

David’s inhale makes him stiffen, his hands moving from Patrick’s neck, to his shoulders. This is it, Patrick thinks, that was the last kiss until David says he can date someone with a five year old.  
Except, it’s not, “listen. I’m sorry, I’ve never been around kids, I don’t know what they like and what they know. So I’m sorry, and I like Mabel, if she was an adult who was high at New York City Party, she would be smarter than most people there.” 

Patrick’s grins, burries it in David’s chest for a second before telling him, “okay just so you know, most parents don’t like the thought of their five year old high, and maybe don’t tell Mabel that, five years olds are curious and she will want to know what that means. And she’s five. “

David ducks his head, leaning out of Patrick’s grasp, “Five, David!” He exaggerates

.  
“Okay, okay I’ll shhh and never come up with analogies again” he laughs as Patrick releases him. Relief and giddiness blossom in his chest at another opportunity to show David what love and family can mean.

**

Patrick and Mabel settle into Schitt’s Creek, and then their new apartment after Mabel’s complaints that Ray interrupted her reading too much. 

Patrick settles into the store, while Mabel settles into school. Patrick and David settle into each other, settle into a routine of the store, nights at Patrick’s apartment, bantering and bickering with each other, kissing each other, maybe even falling in love with each other. 

Patrick teaches David how children work; how Mabel works and David teaches Mabel the colour wheel and which outfits work best together on her teddy bears.

Alexis teaches David how to French braid hair, which David practices on Alexis and then brings to Mabel. 

Patrick hears them whispering one day from the couch, as he makes spaghetti for the three of them

“Hey Mabel, would you agree you’re daddy is terrible at stying your hair?” Patrick frowns down at the Bolognese sauce, decides to add more spice to it. He hears Mabel giggle and recognises it as her I agree but I’m too polite to say it giggle and frowns harder. 

“Okay well my sister, Alexis, showed my how to braid hair, so would you like my to do that for you?” 

Patrick also recognises Mabel’s excited gasps and her fast talking that follows is further indication of how much she wants to take David up on his offer, “ohmygosh, yes please, Sarah always has her hair done like that for school and it looks so pretty. Her mom is a hairdresser but I don’t have a mom or a hairdresser, so daddy just does my hair-“

The quickness which she blows past not having a mother makes Patrick’s breath catch, he turns the heat down on the stove and walks to the doorway to check Mabel isn’t upset. 

She’s not, she’s stood in front of the couch, where David is sat, still chatting while David parts her hair into two sections.

“- and I slept over at Sarah’s once and she said her mommy might do my hair for me in the morning but her mommy had to go somewhere so she could. This is much better though because you’re here all the time so even though it’s Saturday, my hair can be like this on Monday and I can show Sarah!”

David catches Patrick’s eye as he searches for the hairbrush next to him, he smiles and Patrick walks back into the kitchen and tries not to tear up. 

It happens anyway so he busies himself with setting the table and when he’s finished Mabel crashes into the kitchen, socks and wooden floor making her fly around the corner.

“Daddy! Daddy, look what David did to my hair! I love it sooo much!” 

Patrick knees down to her, holds her tiny waist, “it looks very pretty, you look like a ginger Rapunzel!. I hope you thanked David very much for making you look so pretty.” 

She nods and giggles all at once, peering at the bowls of spaghetti on the counter. 

Patrick squeezes her waist before standing up, “go and wash your hands and tell David food is ready.” 

Patrick makes to chase her, turns his hands into claws “quick before it’s Spaghetti Bologmabel” he says in a low voice, his monster voice, making Mabel squeal and run past David to the bathroom.

“Mmm, that’s hot” David grins at him from the doorway, comes closer as he says “but I prefer your other bedroom voice.” 

Patrick doesn’t even give him the benefit of a fake laugh, just kisses his chin and then his lips before sliding a hand into David’s back pocket, kissing him once more before Mabel gets back. 

**

Later that night, after tea and Mabel’s had her bath and read herself to sleep, Patrick leads David to his bedroom, kissing him sloppily, only really caring that they end up in his bed , not how they get there.

David trips on a discarded toy, falls right into Patrick, barely holding back a squeak as Patrick struggles to sush him through his giggles. David manages to shut them both up with his next kiss, finally making it to Patrick’s room and closing the door behind them.

Afterwards, they’re lying in the middle of Patrick’s bed, facing each other, Patrick rubs David’s hip as his eyes start to tire.  
“Yknow-“ Patrick starts as he gets his hand behind David’s knee and pulls it up to rest over his own hip, “Mabel really loves having you around, I think it’s a welcome change for her, I think this place was that for both of us.” 

Patrick stops as he feels David’s eyes on his, his hand leaving David’s knee as it settles on his waist, his gaze leaving David’s chest as they settle on David’s.

“ I just worry, that making the decision to move here, leaving her mother behind, her grandmother, was stupid. That she’s not going to be able to be independent, or strong because I’ve taken away all the female role models for her.”

David begins running his fingers through Patrick’s hair at the front, hair that’s becoming longer and wavy as he neglects to get it cut. 

“Patrick.” Patrick meets his eye, kisses the corner of his mouth. “Mabel has everything she could ever want in you. Me and Alexis didn’t have half of what you’ve given Mable, obviously I’m talking in terms of emotional support and love, not material possessions, if that was the case wow Mabel would need her mother.”

Patrick nips David’s waist and laughs as David squirms.

“Look, what I’ve learnt from my parents leaving us with a Nanny all day long was that love from anyone, even Adelina, can be enough and I’ve never seen a parent love a child more than you do Mabel. So don’t worry, just introduce her to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and she’s enough of a female role model to raise 100 motherless children.”

Patrick can’t reply, if he does something might come out that he knows David isn’t ready for, instead he just catches David’s hand, presses a kiss to his palm and settles into sleep. 

**

The next Thursday Patrick has a dentist appointment that he completely forgets about until it pings through his phone at 4pm. 

Dentist appointment, Thursday 17/6/19 at 4:30pm

“Shit.”

“What?” David asks from his position restocking shelves.

“I have a dentist appointment I forgot about, right when Mabel needs picked up from school, can you do that for me?” Patrick asks to David’s startled face.

“I’ve never… you’ve always been there when I’ve been with Mabel, what if I swear, or tell her about the zodiac killer when we run out of conversation on the way here?!” Patrick can see David start to panic, hands dancing around his head, moisturiser threatening to fly at any given moment.

“You’ll be fine, David. Mabel likes to chat, she’ll do most of the talking for you, just ask her how her day was and that should last the whole walk from school back to the store. And if that fails then just ask her what she thinks about the new pen rule, that will have her ranting till dinner time, tomorrow. “

Patrick kisses David goodbye after pulling on his coat, then dashes out the door and shouts “you can do this I have every faith” over David’s protests.

**

After sticking a note on the door, back at 4:40, and locking the store, David sets off to pick Mabel up with anxiety flipping his stomach over. It’s not that he’s never been alone with Mabel, it’s that Patrick has always been just in be next room to help him with anything a five year old might need.

 

He thinks what it must’ve been like for Patrick, 28 and not in love with Mabel’s mother; he supposes it isn’t that uncommon in this day and age but it’s difficult to see Patrick that way, specially with the amount of love he has given to David. Love, yeah that makes the anxiety in David’s stomach crawl to his heart and to his shock it’s not wholly unpleasant.

If Patrick can raise a kid as good, smart and kind as Mabel is then David can pick her up from school and walk her to the store while Patrick gets his teeth looked at, right?

Right. Except Mabel’s had a fight at school.

“Mr Brewer?”, and despite it not being his name, David’s head whips round at it (he doesn’t mind it either), the teacher takes this as a yes. 

“Hi, I’m Mabel’s teacher, Mrs Harwood, can I speak to you about an incident Mabel had at school today?”

Before David can say no, he’s just Mr Brewer’s boyfriend, she’s leading him through the school towards a classroom and hopefully Mabel. Everything’s so tiny, the coat pegs the height of David’s hip and there’s inspirational quotes all over the walls. Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud, one reads in the arching shape of a rainbow, David grins and wonders if Patrick read that before he arrived at Schitt’s Creek. 

“Right this way, Mr Brewer.” 

David opens his mouth “I’m n-“ and then sees Mabel sat at her desk looking miserable. He doesn’t really know what to do, whether to take pity on her to give her a stern look. He know what he wants to do. 

He decides on telling Mrs Harwood that he’s not Mr Brewer.

“Listen, sorry, I’m not Mabel’s dad, he had a dentist appointment he’d forgotten about and asked me to pick Mabel up today.” Mrs Harwood looks him sceptically, darks eyebrows disappearing in her fringe, and turns to Mabel.

“Mabel, do you know who this is? Can you tell me, please?” She asks, her eyes flickering between the two of them. She’s probably thinking that there’s no way David could look after a child, as well as the fact there are zero similarities in Mabel and David. Appearance and personality wise.  
“Yes Miss, he’s David, Daddy’s boyfriend.” David cringes, waits for the teacher to laugh or mock, the wrinkles below her eyes suggesting she might be from a past where two men together was a heinous crime.

Instead, she just turns to David, smooths her hands down the front of her blouse, “Well, my mistake, David please could you pass Mabel’s dad a message?”

David nods his of course, “Can you tell him to ring the school and ask for me, Mrs Harwood, and his earliest convenience. Before 6pm tonight would be very helpful.”

Mabel senses this is her cue to leave and picks up her bag, jumping off her seat and hurrying to David’s side.

“Yes of course, I imagine he’ll want to know what happened today as soon as possible, so I’ll let him know when he gets back from the dentist.”

Mabel’s teacher says “thank you,” walks behind them to open the door, gives Mabel a stern look so David doesn’t have to and waves them out.

**

David allows Mabel a few minutes of silence on the walk back to the store before he asks any questions. He just has “So, Mabel-” out of his mouth when she bursts into tears. 

David’s heart starts to beat harder in his throat as Mabel stops in the middle of the path and sobs with her hands over her eyes. David kneels to her level, careful to not to actually lets his pants touch the ground (they’re Givenchy okay, he’s sure Mabel would understand). 

“Okay, maybe we should just calm down for a minute, okay. Take some deep breaths.” Turns out calming down a crying five year old is the same as calming down panic attacks. David stores that piece of information in the draw marked Mabel in his mind.

“shh, shh, listen to my breaths, we’ll do them together. One…Two…”

Mabel eventually calms down, her breaths just on the edge of shuddering and her face blotchy, nose dripping. David thinks ew, snots, but knows better than to say anything. He doesn’t want Mabel to cry again before Patrick gets back.

“Do you.. want to talk about it? Or wait for Daddy?” Mabel nods, her curls bouncing against her back. David isn’t sure which one she nods at but she stays quiet so he assumes she wants to wait for Patrick to come home to think about it. David wishes he could be as easily distracted as a five year old, and wait for Patrick to be there when he has things to think about.

Mabel’s sniff brings David back, and he straightens up to his usual height. Not wanting to discover anything on Mabel’s hand he puts a hand on her shoulder and steers her towards the direction of the store, Mabel’s chin wobbling all the way.

“When we get to the store, maybe we can plait your hair?”  
Mabel sniffs, then nods at David’s suggestion. At there’s always something he can offer her. 

**  
Later, after Patrick has spoken to Mabel’s teacher and finds out Mabel had a fight at school, punched poor Timothy Dean for telling her face was round. They’re all sat on the couch together in a row, Mabel on Patrick’s right and David on his left. 

Patrick grabs David’s thigh, squeezes tight and whispers, “can you go hang out in the kitchen for a bit, I don’t really want her to have other people listening to me tell her off”.

Patrick kisses David’s ear when he’s done and turns to Mabel as David leaves the room. David walks to Patricks room, furthest away from the living room, and scrolls through his instagram until Mabel comes quietly into the room in Patricks arms and whispers goodnight.

“Can I?” David asks while patting the bed next to him, Patrick nods and looks at him the way that makes his insides catch fire. Patrick drops Mabel next to him and pretends not to listen as he changes for bed.

David doesn’t really know why he asked for Mabel, but shes looking at him expectedly, brown eyes (just like Patrick’s) watching him. 

It begins to unnerve him so he hugs Mabel with arm one and whispers “You’re dad also has a round face and I think he’s gorgeous, so unless that boy at school is a model, I don’t think he can say anything.” 

Mabel giggles into his chest, causing Patrick to look back at them from his place at the sink. David marvels at how Patrick can still make his chest ache with a toothbrush in his mouth and toothpaste at the corner.

“He has a snotty nose and always sniffs during reading tests. Its really annoying!” Mabel says into David’s chest, pushing her forehead against him as she finishes her sentence. David strokes her head and she lifts up and makes motions for Patrick to join them.

**

Patrick watches as Mabel grows, her hair growing with her legs, measures her against the doorframe every sunday morning. 

He also watches David grow, in the emotional sense. He watches as David opens himself up to the love he deserves and occasionally, Mabel’s sticky fingers. He likes to watch and observe, observes how Mabel feels comfortable telling David which sweaters of his she doesn’t like. Observes how David lets her. 

When he imagined his life at 18, at 23 he saw himself with Rachel and probably more kids, with a big house in the suburbs and friendly neighbours. 

Instead, he’s got David and Mabel, a flat in a town called Schitt’s Creek and a guy with three fingers on each hand as a neighbour. He wouldn’t change a thing, even Glenn with the three fingers fills him with more glee than his imagined life ever could. 

He and Rachel always talked about kids, and what they would call them and how they would dress them. But that ended up being all talk on Rachel’s end, because when Mabel came along, during what ended up being their last sixth month break, Rachel told Patrick she couldn’t do it; she had to focus on her career, sort herself out first before raising a child.

Patrick thinks its lucky his parents never threw out any of his old clothes or toys, maybe they always hoped Mabel would be born, probably not with separated parents. 

So Mabel was dressed in typically boy’s clothes for the first three years of her life, overalls with tractors on and velcro shoes with flames on them. She still has good manners and knows how to read and can talk through her problems when she needs to, makes Patrick thinks that raising her in a shared room at his parent’s house hasn’t done any damage. She was still able to grow and smile and laugh.

However, Patrick can’t deny after moving to Schitt’s Creek, Mabel has totally come to life. She has more fun at school than she ever did at her old one, she eats all of what is on her plate at meal times and the cuddles she gives him before bed have increased and become tighter. Sometimes she squeezes the tears right out of Patrick.

 

Mabel continues to grow and grow right into her sixth birthday. Patrick cries as he puts her to bed the night before, she just laughs at him and runs her hands through his hair.

“Daddy, I’m not going away, I’m just turning six,” she tells him earnestly, tongue poking through the gap where her two front teeth should be. This just makes Patrick worse, her teeth keep falling out and her adult teeth keep growing in. Adult teeth. 

Patrick can’t believe it, David tells him that it happens to everyone, even Oprah and Obama. Patrick responds with, they’re not Mabel though and David agrees with little protest considering Patrick slightly disrespected Oprah.

“I know, I know. I just remember when you were six months old and you were so tiny and quiet and you never stopped smiling or giggling, especially at your grandad.” Patrick laughs at the memory of his dad, usually put together and appropriate blowing raspberries at the kitchen table.

Mabel sighs, “I miss them, can we visit them sometime?” Patrick grins, knowing they won’t need to do that. 

“Yes, we’ll see then very soon.”

**

Mabel nearly screams when she sees her Grandma and Grandpa at their apartment door, she drops the card she’s holding and runs at Patrick’s dad, who grunts when he catches her.

“ohmygosh, I can’t believe yous are here, when did you get here? I was just saying to Daddy last night that I miss you,” Mabel’s nearly shouting her words and the she grabs the necks of her grandparents and pulls them together.

Patrick leaves his place next to David on the sofa, his stomach rattling with nerves. He knows he had to let Mabel have this, loving her grandparents as much as she does, Patrick could deny her them much longer. 

But.  
But he is yet to tell his parents he’s most definitely gay, and most definitely in a relationship with a man. For almost a year. He places his hand on Mabel’s back as he kisses his mom’s cheek in greeting.

Patrick looks at Mabel. Looks back to David and works up the nerve. He’s doing this for them. 

“There’s someone you should meet” Patrick says, nearly swallowing the end of his sentence, he forces it out between the nerves that are slowly making their way to his lips. He tries to let them out on his next shuddering exhale.

His parents look to each other before turning back to Patrick, his mom smiles at him and follows him back to the couch where David’s sat.

“Hi, I’m Marcy and this is Clint,” his dad waves in greeting while his mom extends her hand out in David direction.

“Hi, I’m David, I’m Patricks business partner-”

“-and my boyfriend.” Patrick can’t look at his parents, just focuses his gaze on Mabel’s feet, dangling just above his Dad’s stomach.

“Davids my boyfriend, I’m gay. We’ve um… been together nearly a year and I’ve never been happier.. in my life.” Patrick twists his hands together before risking a glance at his parents, moving his gaze from Mabel’s ankles to his Mom’s face.

“Oh honey, come here.” She grabs Patrick’s arm and brings his head down into her neck, “you know we love you, and we’re just so happy you’re happy. Right Clint?”

“Right. We’re so proud of you son, we can’t wait to see what you’ve got for yourself here” Patrick’s dad gives him a thumbs up and passes Mabel to him. David comes up behind him and rubs at the short hairs at the back of his neck and he’s fussing over the remnants of breakfast on Mabel’s cheek, giving his hands something to do.

The photo his Mom takes of the three of them in that moment becomes his favourite photo ever. He lets Mabel eat three slices of cake that day.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> This work is part of a series so there will be more to come!  
> You can find me on tumblr at thewayulook2night :)


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